Republican legislators recently reintroduced three bills to enforce harsher penalties for repeat drunk driving offenders, among others to make Wisconsin’s roads safer.
The bills, introduced by Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, and Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, are similar to bills passed last legislation that never made it through the Assembly.
The new batch of bills would install a minimum prison sentence of five years for offenders who kill someone while driving intoxicated, an 18-month incarceration period for fifth and sixth time drunk driving offenders and prosecute drivers who operate vehicles without an ignition interlock, a devices that forces drivers to be breathalyzed before turning on the vehicle.
The bills also make harsher penalties for those who illegally drive a car that is not their own in order to bypass using a required device that measures blood alcohol content.
The bills introduced last session died in part because of opposition by the Tavern League, an alcoholic beverages lobbying group.
The new round of bills, however, have received support from the lobby, enhancing the chance of the bills’ success.
The lobby group emphasized their support of stopping repeat offenders and not penalizing first-time offenders, signaling the changing social climate surrounding driving while intoxicated.
“We strongly support Representative Ott’s and Senator Darling’s package of bills that complement our efforts by going after the worst offenders who give everyone else a bad name,” Tavern League Executive Director Pete Madland said.
With these new laws, Ott and Darling hope to close any loopholes. Ott is more optimistic about the bills’ futures this time around, noting Gov. Scott Walker’s signing of a bill with similar content in 2016.
In 2015, there were nearly 24,000 drunk driving convictions and 190 deaths related to drunk driving in Wisconsin.
Ott and Darling are currently looking into ways to allocate taxpayer money towards treatment and further penalties for first-time drunk driving offenders.
